


Screen

by moenochrome



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Drabbles, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-20 22:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4805234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moenochrome/pseuds/moenochrome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I do not know why I would go<br/>In front of you and hide my soul<br/>Cause you're the only one who knows it.</p><p>( A collection of Josh / Sam drabbles based on prompts I received. )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Keeping a Secret

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr link](http://madkinggangrel.tumblr.com/post/129149724179/send-me-a-number-and-two-characters-get-a). ;w;
> 
> I can't. I ship these two so much. I cry every siNGLE DAY.

It was movie night at the Washingtons and that meant endless chatter before the movie, after the movie, and, of course, _during_ the movie. Josh always had something to say about how cliché a scene was and Beth always had a retort ready. There was only silence if Hannah was engrossed in a lovey-dovey scene. If someone talked over that, there would be hell to pay. The remaining siblings (and Sam) settled for making gagging faces at each other and behind her back.

Sam could tell something was up the moment she walked into the room and everyone went dead quiet.

Squinting, she glanced around the room suspiciously. The siblings had been whispering animatedly just a second ago. To _think_ there was actually a topic that they didn’t feel comfortable discussing when she was in the room—she was mildly offended. As Hannah’s best friend, she was practically Josh and Beth’s second sister by now.

Nosy as always, she asked, “What? What did I miss?”

“ _Nothing_.” Hannah and Beth said in unison, but neither of them could hide the grins on their faces. Josh shrugged casually, his eyes never straying from his phone.

Sam kept baiting, “Come on. What is it?”

She was met with more silence. Hannah folded her lips inwardly, like she was trying her damnedest not to laugh—or to snitch. She was downright awful when it came to keeping secrets from Sam. If Hannah knew something juicy, Sam was bound to know the same thing the very next day.

“Was it about me?”

More silence, but this time Josh started to bounce his leg up and down. He might have been better than his sisters at acting but he still had his tells—so they were _all_ involved in this little secret, _and_ it was about her.

Sam suddenly gasped and placed a hand on her chest dramatically, “Did one of you guys call me fat while I was out? Did you all _agree_?”

“That was _exactly_ it.” Beth said, reaching out to playfully pat Sam’s stomach.

Sam gave the other’s hand a light slap, “I am _hurt_.” Folding her arms, she asked, “For real, though—is no one going to keep me in the loop?”

“Sorry, Sam. It’s a surprise.” Hannah giggled. “You’ll find out one day, though. _Soon_. Right, Josh?”

Josh looked up from his phone and stared at his sisters like a deer in headlights, “Uh. Maybe. _Hey_ , how about we get the movie started?”

Afterward, once Sam was fully invested in an action scene, the sisters turned to look at Josh. Hannah gave him an okay-sign and a wink while Beth pointed at Sam and mouthed ‘ _You better tell her_ ’.

Josh smiled at them feelingly.


	2. 67%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr link](http://madkinggangrel.tumblr.com/post/129151242849/send-me-a-number-and-two-characters-get-a).

“When I said you should watch _The Cabin in the Woods_ , I didn’t say you should pirate it.”

“Look, _Josh_. _”_ Sam hissed over the top of her laptop. “Not all of us have enough money to just buy all the movies they want to watch.”

Or enough money to buy an actual cabin in the woods for that matter. Sheesh.

“Not like it matters anyway.” She sighed, turning her laptop screen towards him and gesturing at the red bar that read _’67.0%’_. “It’s broken.”

“Sammy, Sammy, Sammy.” He chastised her in a manner similar to how a cheesy villain would say ‘well, well, well’. “ _This_ is what you deserve for not supporting filmmakers—nothing.”

After delivering a light punch to his shoulder, she spun her laptop back towards her. She knew he didn’t actually care—he was just screwing with her at this point.

“Har, har. I’ll just find another torrent. Wh—” He suddenly reached over and shut her laptop, “Hey!”

“Luckily for you, you have a friend who has ‘enough money to go out and buy all the movies he wants’.” He tried to imitate her previous tone, but failed spectacularly. “A friend who, you know, might own the movie that he suggested for you, a friend who has a kickass theatre set-up—are you getting it now?”

As he spoke her expression gradually shifted from annoyed to realization. She asked, “ _Ohhh_. Movie night?”

“Movie night.” He nodded.

“ _To_ night?”

“I mean, if you’re free.”

She was. Why else was she just sitting around waiting for a torrent to come through?

“This movie better be good.” She was grabbing her jacket as she spoke.

"“Eh, it’s not bad." He was getting his car keys out, "People say the second half is a total downer, though.”


	3. Advertisement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr link](http://madkinggangrel.tumblr.com/post/129190544224/send-me-a-number-and-two-characters-get-a).
> 
> IN WHICH THINGS ARE SITCOM LIKE AND I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS PAIRING. Slight nsfw and perhaps inaccuracy bc guys being guys and I know Nothing about Matt b/c he died in my playthrough. Forgive me.

They didn’t usually sit around talking about girls, but somehow the conversation derailed when they found out Matt’s father had an impressive collection of Playboy magazines.

Mike made a low whistle and turned the magazine towards the others, his finger pointing at a nude model posing innocently in a bed, “Hey, doesn’t this chick kind of look like Ashley?”

“What—” Chris squinted, then he blushed and attempted to snatch the dirty magazine out of Mike’s hand. He was too slow, though. “Don’t look at that!”

“Hey! Careful with the magazines, guys.” Matt tried to interject, but his words fell on teenage boy ears (which were deaf to anything they didn’t care to hear).

“Chill, man. You know that wasn’t her for real, right?” Josh said.

His best friend sat back down and mumbled bitterly, “For the record, Ash would _never_ pose for something like this.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Josh agreed half-heartedly.

Mike hummed in agreement, though whether he was agreeing with Chris or with something he saw in the magazine was up for debate. He then added, “You know who I could see working as a playboy model, though? Jessica.”

Matt scoffed, “Whoa, careful what you say, Mike. Emily might tear you a new one.”

“Hey, Emily could pull it off too. She’s got the bod’, and—holy _shit_ ,” Mike suddenly said, “Sam.”

This time it was Josh who scoffed, “Sam? I mean, sure, she’s got it going on. But you’ve _met_ Sam, right? She’s the _last_ person you’d find in a playboy magazine.”

“No. _Really_ ,” Mike dropped the magazine on the table for his friends to see.

On the glossy page, right next to thin letters that read “PEAK OUTFITTERS”, there was a girl that was unmistakably Sam donning hiking gear. There was dirt on her face, but that didn’t stop her from grinning and posing playfully for the camera with her trekking poles in hand.

 

“You didn’t tell me you were in a playboy magazine.”

Sam looked at Josh like he just told her forgot her first name, “What?”

Josh pulled the magazine out of his backpack and flipped to the page he doggy-eared earlier. He was considerate enough to fold the other half when he presented it to her so she wouldn’t have to look at the naked brunette on the page right next to hers.

First, she looked at it from a distance like he was showing her a dead baby, then she slowly leaned in with wide-eyes and whispered, “Oh, oh my _god_.” After gaping for a good minute, she snatched the magazine straight out of his grip. She flipped to see what was on the back, cringed excessively at the sight of the nude lady, and quickly flipped it back to stare at her own face once more.

“Hey, careful with that. It’s not mine.”

“It’s not yours?” She repeated incredulously.

“It’s Matt’s.”

“ _Matt’s_?” She squeaked. “He _saw_ this?”

It took a lot of convincing to let Matt borrow the magazine, but it was so worth it. Her reaction was actual gold.

He nodded, “Yeah. Mike and Chris _might_ have been there too.”

She was so embarrassed her ears were turning red, “Oh my god.”

“ _So_ are you going to explain, or…” He can’t stop his shit-eating grin from taking over his face, and here he had been doing such a good job at being semi-serious too.

“Don’t laugh!” She slapped him with the magazine, the poor thing. “I posed for a hiking gear advertisement, sure. They told me it would be placed in different magazines, but they didn’t tell me one of them was a dirty magazine!” A sudden shudder ran up her spine as she looked at her own face, “I feel unclean. I don’t even want to _think_ how many guys saw this.”

“Yeah, and with their junk hanging out and all.”

“ _Say no more._ ” Sam held the magazine back out for him. “I can no longer _exist_. How much is plastic surgery?”

Josh snorted, “Hey, it’ll be alright. I’ll convince the guys it isn’t you, just some creepy look-a-like who just happens to be into hiking.”

“Thank you.” She said, fully convinced that he could do it too. “Can we pretend this never happened?”

“Not a chance, Sammy.”

 

Later, he returned the magazine to Matt mostly unharmed—save for a few folds from Sam slapping him with it and a single, missing page.


	4. Under the Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr link](http://madkinggangrel.tumblr.com/post/129216238149/send-me-a-number-and-two-characters-get-a).

The thing about cheesy romance films was that things just don’t work out as smoothly in reality.

It’s like they think that any semi-attractive boy and girl caught in the rain during a moment of emotional turmoil were bound to kiss. They never consider how maybe the two had a perfectly good friendship going on and enough mutual friends that any initiation of something more could end badly and make things really awkward. They never think that maybe the guy would never sweep her off her feet because he wasn’t the picture-perfect Hollywood guy but some broken guy with depression who compensated by pretending to be loud and proud.

So when Sam found him in the downpour and held her umbrella out for him, when their hands casually brushed and both of them pretended not to notice, when they found a bus station and he shut the umbrella, when she sat close enough for him to smell her shampoo, he didn’t make a move.

She did.

She was Sam—quirky, unpredictable Sam who didn’t care how movies thought a relationship should go.

He didn’t know what she was going to do when she placed one hand on his cheek. He just reveled in the warmth of it. Then she cupped his face with his other hand, and that’s when he saw her fiery expression. The way she was chewing her lip made him think dirty thoughts.

The kiss she placed on his lips made him think dirtier thoughts.

If he was the main guy in a movie, he would have dropped the umbrella (or he wouldn’t have been holding the damn thing in the first place). He would have placed his hands on her back, or her face and tugged her closer.

Instead, he got nervous and started playing with whatever was in his hand like a dumbass. The umbrella snapped open, splashing the two of them with its residual water.

Thinking he ruined everything, he could feel his heart plummet in his chest. He would have to put a gravestone here to mark the end of Sam and Josh’s relationship ever being a possibility. A tragedy—it didn’t even have time to learn how to crawl yet. In his mind he could see her frown, snatch the umbrella out of his hand, and walk away. He could see her sitting back down awkwardly and never talking to him again.

Instead, Sam laughed and helped him close the umbrella. She kissed him again and called him a doofus—and although he protested, he agreed in his mind. He was a doofus—the biggest doofus. A doofus that was eternally grateful she didn’t care how clumsy and stupid he was.

They held hand and made small talk until Hannah came to pick them up.


	5. Are You Challenging Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr Link](http://madkinggangrel.tumblr.com/post/129397965574/send-me-a-number-and-two-characters-get-a)  
>  This is awful. I'm sorry omg.

If you asked Sam how it all started, she’d say it was when Josh glued her flip flops to the ground at the swimming pool. She tried stepping into them only to land almost flat on her face. Josh insisted he was just accepting the challenge that Sam issued when she came over for a sleepover and saran-wrapped his toilet. Sam claimed that she had no part in it—it was all Beth.

Regardless, what mattered was that the two were now involved in an all-out pranking war and _no one_ was safe.

 

**[3:14] Matt:** Hey Josh how you doing?

**[3:20] Josh:** im THE BIGGEST DUMBASS.

**[3:20] Josh:** THE BIGGEST DUMBASS *

**[3:21] Josh:** fine**

**[3:21] Josh:** FUCKING goddess

**[3:21] Josh:** SAM* HOLY SHI

 

“You what?” Hannah asked while starting her car up.

“I spent a few hours messing with his phone’s autocorrect.” Sam snickered. Always one for modesty, she started to gloat, “Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all day—”

Suddenly, as Hannah was backing the car up, the whole vehicle lurched forward. Sam’s eyes flew to the rear-view mirror, where she saw a flash of plaid fabric and flesh fall.

Hannah’s hands shook as they moved slowly from the steering wheel to her mouth. Turning to face Sam, she croaked, “W-Was that Josh?”

Sam burst out of the car and was by his side in an instant, “Oh god, Josh— _Josh_!”

There was blood everywhere, but he was still alive and shaking—

Shaking with _laughter_.

She realized then that the blood was fake and everything was staged. There were tears in his eyes when he said, “God, Sammy, you should see the look on your face.”

“That’s,” She took a long, hard breath before screaming, “ _THAT’S NOT FUNNY_.”

Hannah and Josh’s laughter overruled her statement.

 

“So,” Josh said. “Are you going to tell me what’s up? You look like you got laid.”

Chris grinned, “Close. I finally got a girlfriend.”

“ _Dude_.” Josh extended his arm for a high-five, which his best friend gladly accepted. He then reached over to sip at his sprite, “Wait, it’s not Ashley?”

“Nope. Sam.”

Josh choked, “ _Sam_?” He squinted his eyes knowingly, “You’re messing with me.”

“Huh—hey, there she is! Sam, over here!” Chris’s eyes _lit_ up like he just downloaded the best app in history. Josh was almost inclined to believe him now. Almost.

“Hey Chris.” She said, her voice low and teasing. “Oh! Didn’t see you there, Josh.”

He rolled his eyes, “ _Sure_. Really, Sam, you have to do better than this to get me.”

“What?” She looked genuinely puzzled for a moment.

“You and _Chris_ hooking up? As if.”

“Oh, Chris. Should we give him a demonstration?”

Chris nodded eagerly. Barely a moment later, Sam made her way next to Chris, placed her hands on his face, leaned down, and smooched him. Josh just stared, bug-eyed. He briefly contemplated stabbing his eyes out with a straw, until he noticed that Sam had placed her hand between their lips and they were now both snickering furiously.

“ _Haha_ ,” Josh laughed mockingly. Then he glared at his best friend, “What the fuck, man?”

A shrug, “She gave me a ten dollar Google Play card.”

“Chris, you _tramp_.”

 

“Beth, I’m so glad you’re not in with Josh on this pranking thing.” Sam breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re my only ally.”

“ _Am I?_ ” Beth said menacingly, looking up from her pasta with an innocent smile.

Narrowing her eyes, Sam gasped, “ _No._ ”

Not wanting to know what kind of damage Josh could cause in a restaurant filled with people, she stood up immediately. Unfortunately for her, she was too late in noticing Beth’s ploy—Josh was already making his way through the tables to her.

“Sam.” Josh gave her a crooked, innocent smile.

“Josh.” Sam said through gritted teeth. Although her mind screamed for her to hightail out of there, she didn’t. Social conventions dictated that running out of a restaurant and making a ruckus was generally frowned upon.

She should have ran. When the hell did she ever care about social conventions anyway?

He cleared his throat and turned to face the remainder of the restaurant. “Excuse me. Could I have your attention, please?”

“Josh.” Sam hissed quietly, just as the restaurant went silent.

“I’m here today with my friend, Sam. Oh, uh, a little bit of a backstory. I’ve known Sam for about five, six years.”

Sam side-eyed Beth, who had long since pulled her phone out to record the whole thing. She had never felt so betrayed in her life.

“That doesn’t matter—what matters is that she’s the most beautiful and funny person I know and I love her. Although we drive each other crazy, sometimes,” he turned to wink at her, “I’m convinced this is the right thing to do.”

He got down on one knee.

Her heart started to jump.

She was going to murder him.

“Samantha, will you marry me?”

More people had pulled their phones out to record this— _damn_ the technology age. She weighed her options carefully here. If she said no, she was going to be a jackass and this video was going to spread all over YouTube. If she said yes, then it was more than likely that this video would just be another proposal video that got buried under other, flashier proposals.

With a smile on her lips but fury in her eyes, she placed a hand on Josh’s shoulder and said, “Yes.”

 

“So how does it feel to be Mrs. Washington?” Josh joked later.

In response, Sam slugged him in the shoulder, hard. “Hardy har.”

 

She doesn’t tell him that she wished it hadn’t been a prank.

He doesn’t tell her that both his feelings and the ring were real.

His sisters had it all planned out for him. If (it was all hypothetical) he one day proposed to her for _real_ , he had to play that video at their wedding. But it was stored on Beth’s phone and lost, along with Beth’s body, somewhere in the mountains.

So he never thought on it again.


	6. Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr link](http://madkinggangrel.tumblr.com/post/129437363149/send-me-a-number-and-two-characters-get-a).  
>  LAY ME TO REST I HATE THIS SO MUCH

The story of how Josh and Sam met started a little something like this.

Hannah came home, elated and giddy and said, “Hey, my friend Sam is coming over. Is that okay?”

It was less of a question than it was a warning.

“Yeah. Okay.” Josh nodded.

When Sam came through the door, she came in to the sight of a thirteen-year-old boy holding a baseball bat threateningly right behind Hannah.

In his defense, Sam was a boy’s name.

 

The story of how Josh fell in love was a little longer than that.

They didn’t get along, not at the start. He was thirteen and she was twelve and both of them were still recovering from the years of thinking boys were gross and girls were snooty and cooties.

She didn’t think he was weird, though, and he appreciated a lot more than he could express at the time. People tended to think so because of the way he looked and because of what happened two years ago. The rumors still went around from back then, though they got crazier and more blown out of proportion with every year that passed. Combine a preteen’s developing mean girls-esque attitude with the remnants of their childish imagination and you got yourself the mess Josh was in.

Curious, he asked her why she wasn’t concerned about the rumors surrounding him. She told him that she never trusted rumors because there were rumors about her too. People insisted that she liked girls because she didn’t like wearing skirts and beat all the boys at dodgeball. She hated how easily people believed what others said.

He warmed up to her pretty quickly after that.

 

Chris once got jealous of her. He didn’t say it out loud, but he was afraid she might usurp upon his position as Josh’s best friend.

When Josh said that would never happen, his friend challenged him, “I bet you like her.”

“No.” Josh said firmly, because even though he was still young, he had already decided that his depression was an obstacle nobody could climb over.

 

His face burned and his skin tingled whenever he and Sam made physical contact of any sort. As he grew older, he got better at hiding it.

It was the small, casual things that got to him, though.

Like there was this one hot summer day when she offered him her water bottle—that her lips have touched and that his lips then touched as well. He thought about it for about a week afterwards.

Another time she was demonstrating how strong she got from mountain climbing over the summer and lifted Hannah and then Beth. Having made it through two out of three of the Washington siblings, she decided she wasn’t done and set her eyes on him right afterwards. He didn’t think she could do it. She wrapped her arms around him and proved him wrong.

It was only for five seconds, but it five seconds where all Josh could think about was how her breasts felt pressed against his chest. He took a cold shower that night. Beth, who used the shower after him, came out and looked at him sympathetically.

 

When you grow up with someone, you notice the small quirks they adopt over time and the little changes they make to their appearance, but you _don’t_ notice how attractive someone gets until one shocking moment when it all becomes apparent.

They were in high school now, and he was a year above her, but they had the same math class that they studied for together with his sisters. Well, “together” might not be the right word. Sam and his sisters studied while Josh spent most of the time browsing his phone—he didn’t care about his grades. Hannah only cared because she wanted to impress Mike. Frankly, only Sam and Beth had their priorities straight.

This time, Beth left with Hannah for tennis practice, so Josh just sat around and listened while Sam explained concepts to him—it was more for her own sake than for his.

With exams week coming up, Sam didn’t have time to get a haircut. There was this small clump of hair that kept falling into her face and she’d reach over and tuck it behind her ear repeatedly.

Again. And again. And again.

It was a small motion, but it made him look up from his phone screen every time.

It drove him crazy—he was tempted to reach over and tuck her hair back for her.  That would be weird, though… _would_ it be weird? They’ve known each other for years now. Mike always ruffled her hair during P.E. and got away with it (minus a few insults thrown his way), but anyone that attractive could get away with just about anything. Everything Josh did came out clumsy and awkward.

While contemplating this, he looked at her for what felt like the first time. Were her eyelashes always that long? When did she lose all that baby fat? When did she get _hot?_ Has other people noticed?

She glanced up at him, “What’s up?”

“Nothing.” He said nonchalantly, but he was screaming on the inside.

 

“When did Sam get hot?”

Chris and Ashley both turned to look at Josh.

Josh elaborated, “Sam. You remember, right? She used to be kind of chubby.”

“Sam? _Chubby_?” Ashley looked so confused. How could Sam be anything other than athletic? She imagined little Sam to be the kind of girl to run around the playground sticking bugs down boy’s shirts. She wasn’t entirely wrong.

“That was _years_ ago, Josh.” Chris said.

“Yeah, but when did she get _hot_?”

Ashley was out of the loop, “Wait, why does it even matter?”

Chris turned to look at her and Ashley suddenly understood. They just had this ability to communicate telepathically about everything except their mutual feelings, apparently.

Now Josh was out of the loop, “What?”

“Go for it, man.” Chris placed an encouraging hand on his shoulder.

“ _What_?”

“You have our support.” Ashley placed her hand on his other shoulder.

“No! No, no, you guys got it all wrong.”

Ashley and Chris were telling him to make a move. How low has he sunk?

 

The reason he would never tell her that he _may_ have potentially developed a crush on her was because he was terrified of getting rejected flat out more than he was of anything else. He’d rather live in a world of maybes than know for certain that anything between them could never happen.

There was this one time a senior called Donald promposed her. Even though Sam didn’t think so, it was a pretty big deal. He wrote her a song, there was a bouquet of roses, he had a whole crowd gathering around them, but Sam looked him right in the eyes and said no.

Sometimes he sees himself standing in the poor guy’s shoes with the same crestfallen expression and Sam walking away.

When Hanna immediately confronted Sam on how she could possibly reject such a romantic and love-filled promposal, Sam told Hannah that she was convinced that she would never get to understand what “love” was during her lifetime. She was perfectly content with that, though. She had plenty of love to give for animals and hiking and herself. Why should she factor anybody else into that equation?

Hannah, on the other hand, did not think this was even remotely okay. She was so distressed by this that she started lamenting to Josh.

“I don’t see what the problem is.” Josh said.

“Josh, she can’t _marry_ hiking.”

“I don’t know. It’s long, hard, gets the sweat going—I thought chicks dig that.”

Hannah berated him, “This isn’t a joke. My best friend is never going to get married and I’ll _never_ get to be a maid of honor.”

“You know Beth exists, right?”

Hannah gave him a sore look. Beth was worse than Sam when it came to love and they both knew it.

He cleared his throat to break the silence and explained, “Hannah, look at it this way. As long as she keeps this up, she won’t be picked up by any assholes. You know, guys who just want to take her to the bone zone and ditch her.”

“ _Bone zone_? What the hell?” She made a disgusted noise. “If you’re worried about that happening, why don’t _you_ date her?”

Because he was an entirely different kind of asshole, but he didn’t say that. Luckily, Grey’s Anatomy came on and it stopped the conversation in its tracks. He took solace in the thought that the topic would never come up again.

 

One day, she came over upset. Hannah and Beth knew but didn’t want to push the topic, so they acted like nothing was wrong. Good thing Josh was a certified _expert_ on feeling low. He knew exactly what to do for Sam. He went out, drove thirty minutes back and forth, and came back with Chipotle.

“Josh,” she said after a few hearty bites into her burrito, “I love you.”

As soon as she finished saying it, there was no oxygen in the room. He swore he heard Hannah and Beth gasp in unison in the background. He held his breath and watched her, ready to play it off casually if she did too, but she didn’t.

“W-Wait,” She gulped, placing the burrito down. “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I do like you. Uh, I mean, I…”

Josh asked cautiously, “Can I kiss you?”

“Oh!” Sam said. “Uh, yes.”

So he leaned over the table, placed his hand on the back of her neck, and did just that. She tasted like tofu and onions and he didn’t care. With his eyes closed, he could feel her smiling against his lips after the kiss and he couldn’t help but smile too.

Hannah made a strange, high-pitched noise that finally inspired them to separate. It was Beth who spoke first, even though she liked to pretend she didn’t care about romance, “ _Do it again._ ”

“This isn’t a show, you guys.” Josh sighed.

Sam joked, “If you pay me one hundred dollars I’ll throw in tongue.”

With an urgent expression, Josh turned to them, “Pay her. Pay her right now.”

“ _Josh_ —Hannah, no.”

Hannah was getting out her wallet. Sam conceded and rubbed her temples. _Rich assholes_ —all of them.


	7. Happiness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr link](http://madkinggangrel.tumblr.com/post/129573563379/send-me-a-number-and-two-characters-get-a).
> 
> I am dead on the inside.

It all started when Josh accidentally brushed his arm against Sam’s neck, trying to reach for the remote control. She let out a startled yelp and quickly scrunched up the same way a turtle withdrew into its shell in response to danger.

Having forgotten about the remote, he asked her, “Are you _ticklish_?”

“ _No._ ” She lied. Noticing the glimmer in his eye, she warned through her teeth, “Keep. Away.”

Of course he wouldn’t. He leaned in with wiggling fingers and she leaned away as far as she could into the sofa’s arm rest, “Josh, I _swear_ to—“

He dove in straight for her tummy and Sam screamed before dissolving into a puddle of giggles. His hands then snaked up her shirt to tap gently along her sides and she squirmed beneath him. In between bursts of laughter she’d occasionally say his name and get syllables of incomplete threats out, but Josh interpreted it as encouragement.

Minutes in, he went for her neck and she kneed him in the crotch.

They both stilled. Josh’s hands now rested against her neck—he could probably kill her right now and she wouldn’t even blame him. “I tickled her and she mutilated me?” The court was out on this one. Mentally berating herself, she slowly, slowly lowered her leg. He let out a whimper, shut his eyes, and leaned forward to bury his face into the armrest, right next to her face.

That’s when she realized just how scandalous the position they were in was—him on top of her; her pinned under him, blushing and breathless; his hands now reaching downward to cup his injury. She didn’t bring it up, though. Now was definitely not the time.

Voice low and hoarse from laughter, she whispered, “I’m so, _so_ sorry.”

He responded by groaning.

 

“Josh, I’m _really_ sorry.” Sam repeated again later. They were sitting just as they were before the incident, though now there were a good few inches between them that Sam decided she had no right to intrude into and the addition of a bag of frozen peas being held against his, uh, little Josh.

With a deadpan expression, he said, “I’ll never forgive you.”

Knowing he was joking, she laughed and scooted closer to him. He placed his arm around her shoulder cautiously, careful not to aggravate her sensitive neck.

After staring blankly at the nature documentary they were watching and wondering why he was watching it in the first place, he finally remembered what he originally wanted, “Can you pass me the remote?”

And because she owed him one, she let him change the channel.


	8. Are You Challenging Me? (EPILOGUE)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr link](http://madkinggangrel.tumblr.com/post/129820426829/pairing-sam-x-josh-until-dawn-an-its-a).
> 
> This is a continuation of the drabble "Are You Challenging Me?" because an anon asked for it. This probably isn't what they wanted but I love dying and being dead so.

“Is this… Beth’s phone?”

“I found it in the mountains with Em.” Matt said. “She charged it up just now. Honestly, it’s a miracle that it still works.” He stopped to lick his chapped lips and to consider his words carefully, “We thought you’d want to keep it.”

Sam swallowed dryly, “Thank you, Matt.”

 

It was amazing how Beth didn’t have a passcode—she had two nosy siblings and an even nosier friend called Sam. Then again, Beth didn’t use her phone much. There were only six apps on her home screen—Chris would have felt personally attacked if he saw this. Beth used her phone more as a camera and a-- _well_ \--actual phone than anything else.

A 32 gigabyte phone with 28 gigabytes worth of photos and videos.

Sam closed the phone and tucked it into her pocket.

She couldn’t look. Not now. Not for a while.

 

 **[VIDEO] 07/20** / **2013 (04:21:05)**

“Tell the watchers what you’re up to, _dear_ brother.”

“Huh? Turn that off.” Josh reached forward to block the camera, but Beth raised the camera over her head.

“Nuh uh. Not until you tell us what you’re thinking!”

She lowered her phone. It took the camera a moment to refocus on Josh’s smirking face. He wore a snazzy tuxedo, which would have looked better if his tie wasn’t all crooked.

“I’m thinking about how my sister is such a little shit.” Beth’s fist flew into the frame and planted a solid punch on Josh’s arm. “ _Ow_! _Geez_ , Beth.”

“Come on! Think of how cute this video will be when we play it at your wedding.” Hannah’s said from somewhere off screen.

Josh rolled his eyes, “Wedding. Right.”

Beth asked, “Are you going to take this seriously?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Josh looked blankly at something in the distance. “Whatever.”

“ _Josh_.”

“Hey, I said yeah.”

“I’m rerolling.”

 

**[VIDEO] 07/20/2013 (04:23:17)**

This shot started with Josh staring at the ground with a deep, thoughtful expression on his face. He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie, but it was still crooked when he was done with it.

“So, uh,” he gazed into the camera, “Sam—”

 

Sam paused the video, convinced that he had somehow seen her from inside the screen.

She rolled over in her bed and tried to sleep, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how he looked at her expectantly and said her name. A good half hour later, she gave up and reached at her dresser for Beth’s phone to watch the video again.

 

**[VIDEO] 07/20/2013 (04:23:17)**

“So, uh, Sam. If you’re watching this, that means we’re getting married.” Suddenly, all the nervousness fell off his face and he looked into the camera like he just realized he was in the twilight zone. “Holy _shit_. Seriously? Why would you ever settle for me? I’m telling you, Sammy, this is the biggest mistake of your life.”

Beth whispered harshly, “ _Josh._ ”

“I mean, mistakes aren’t all bad. Look how the twins turned out.”

The camera was suddenly dropped on a sofa cushion and the camera went dark.

“Hahaha—ow!”

“Josh, I’m going to _kill_ you!”

“Not if I kill him first.”

“Lighten up! I was kidding! I was just kidding!”

 

**[VIDEO] 07/20/2013 (04:31:40)**

“Sam, if you’re watching this, then that means I proposed to you twice. You should feel special—most people have to get a divorce in between. Do you know how much paperwork that takes?”

“Do _you_ know, Josh?” Hannah asked.

“No—but it’s more paperwork than no paperwork.”

Sam could _hear_ Hannah and Beth both rolling their eyes off camera.

“Anyway,” Josh pulled a box out of his jacket and opened it for Beth to record, “this is the ring I’m about to propose to you with. It’s the same ring my dad used to propose to my mom. They told you how their proposal went down, right? It was some Nicolas Sparks-level BS, if you forgot. I’m about to pull some Nicolas Sparks-level BS for you too. I love you _that_ much.”

“Aww,” Hannah cooed.

“Hey, don’t get too excited.” He snapped the box closed. “We don’t know if it’s going down at all.”

Sam didn’t watch the next video. She couldn’t.

There was the temptation to throw Beth’s phone across the room and scream, but she knew she would regret that so she quietly tucked the phone away into her dresser drawer.

Then she propped herself up against her bed’s headrest and stared into the darkness.

She started laughing, because she thought it had been a prank, because pranks were funny and misunderstandings were funnier. No cheesy romantic film could exist without a dramatic misunderstanding in between. No cheesy romantic film could exist without a tragic ending.

Her laughter turned to sobs and then into wails. Her parents burst into her room and tried to comfort her, tried to find out what was wrong. With her face buried in her father’s shoulder and her tears dampening his pajamas, Sam couldn’t find the words to express that everything and nothing was wrong, because nothing happened between them at all.

Nothing ever would.


End file.
